Dr. Denis Casey's teaching-and-learning project, for which he was awarded a Maynooth University Teaching Fellowship for 2015/6, aims to promote independent student learning and critical reflection through a new assessment model, which will be trialled at this Department in Semester 2, 2015–16. Assessment should not simply be a tool to determine whether learning outcomes have been met, but instead be used as part of the learning process, incentivising students to enhance their learning. Consequently in a small number of modules Dr. Casey will be trialling a scheme whereby students give class presentations on a research topic of their own choosing (for which they will receive a continuous assessment grade) and are then asked in the final exam about how their learning has progressed since receiving formal presentation feedback. Students must demonstrate they have reflected on their feedback and the overall grading system will reward learning progression. Even students who do not excel in the continuous assessment can do well overall, provided they act upon their feedback, while conversely, students who do not engage in further research will not do well in the exam, regardless of their continuous assessment grade. In short students will be rewarded for keeping their ‘foot on the gas’!